Summary
- The sudden firing of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI led to a chaotic series of events, including the potential departure of employees and the appointment of two interim CEOs.
- Efforts to bring Altman back as CEO failed initially, but he has now been reinstated after negotiations with the board. A crisis may have been avoided.
- The board's decision to fire Altman stemmed from a lack of candid communication, which hindered their ability to fulfill their responsibilities. Employee loyalty to Altman played a significant role in the events that unfolded.
When Sam Altman, then-CEO of the leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI, was suddenly fired Friday, many watched carefully for what Altman would cook up next. But no one could have predicted the stunning pattern of events that have consumed OpenAI since Altman's ouster, which can only be described as chaos.
The company has been through not one, but two interim CEOs over the course of a few days. It is facing a potential mass exodus of employees, who could follow OpenAI leaders Altman and Greg Brockman in their next venture. And then there's Microsoft, which is OpenAI's biggest investor, lurking in the rearview as a potential destination for disenfranchised OpenAI employees. Now, Altman has indeed ended up back at OpenAI, and a massive crisis might have been avoided.
If you haven't been following the developments down to the minute, it can be hard to figure out how we ended up here. It might be even harder to figure out what might come next. Since all the best phones and best laptops utilize AI nowadays, OpenAI could be at the center of innovation. To help you out, we've put together a recap of all the happenings at OpenAI to date.
What happened at OpenAI?
A lack of "candid communication" led to the stunner, OpenAI's board says
If you're looking for a quick synopsis of the ordeal, here it is. After representing OpenAI as the company's CEO at numerous events this month, Altman was succinctly fired by OpenAI's board via a press release Friday afternoon. The board initially said that Brockman would no longer hold a board position, but would remain as the company's president. In a corresponding move, OpenAI's CTO Mira Murati became interim CEO as the board searched for a permanent replacement.
Things started to go haywire when Brockman quit with flair, and it became clear that droves of OpenAI employees could follow Altman and Brockman. That led OpenAI's board of directors to attempt to bring back Altman as CEO, but that effort has failed up to this point. The tide was turning in Altman's favor, with Murati going rogue, pledging to hire Altman and Brockman under her authority as interim CEO.
The board quickly canned Murati, choosing ex-Twitch CEO Emmitt Shear to take her place as interim CEO. Then chief scientist and board member Ilya Sutskever said he "regrets" his involvement in the ouster. Microsoft announced it would hire Altman and Brockman, giving those two the room to launch a new AI team that could hire fleeing OpenAI employees.
Then, it became clear that the Microsoft deal wasn't as airtight as it seemed. By early Wednesday morning, Altman was reinstated as OpenAI CEO and the board was completely overhauled. There's still a lot of work for OpenAI to do in-house, but it seems that the company has somewhat returned to order.
A complete timeline of events at OpenAI
Everything you need to know about the ongoing situation, so far
Friday afternoon (Nov. 17): OpenAI announces Altman's shock firing
The situation began Friday when OpenAI announced that Altman had been fired as CEO. "Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities," the board said in a press release. "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI."
Friday evening: Altman speaks for the first time
Just a few hours after OpenAI's announcement, Altman posted a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter) that signaled forthcoming plans.
Friday night: Brockman says he isn't actually staying at OpenAI
Although OpenAI's board announced Brockman would stay on as OpenAI president, he quit upon hearing of Altman's firing in pretty dramatic fashion.
Late Friday night: Altman and Brockman release a joint statement
Altman and Brockman released a joint statement on X, recapping the situation as they knew it. This was the first time we learned that chief scientist Ilya Sutskever was deeply involved in Altman's firing, and perhaps led the charge. The board met without Brockman, and then told Altman he was being removed from his post. Sutskever tried to convince Brockman to stay at OpenAI, but that effort failed. We also learned that no one outside of the board and Murati knew of the plan to oust Altman before the announcement.
Early Saturday morning (Nov. 18): The first round of researchers quit OpenAI
As first reported by The Information shortly after midnight EST, three high-ranking OpenAI researchers quit in the wake of the Altman and Brockman firings. The resignations include research director Jakub Pachocki, artificial intelligence risk evaluation leader Aleksander Madry, and researcher Szymon Sidor.
Saturday: OpenAI's COO reveals details behind Altman's firing
According to an internal memo viewed by Axios, there was nothing more behind Altman's firing beyond a lack of candid communication with the board. A portion of the memo, sent to employees by COO Brad Lightcap, reads:
We can say definitively that the board's decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices. This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.
Saturday evening: Altman begins talks to return as OpenAI CEO
The Verge reported that Altman was in talks with OpenAI's board to return as the company's CEO. The discussions started, in part, due to pressure from OpenAI's investors, who felt blindsided by the firing. Altman was open to returning, but wanted more control over the company. That included a demand that all board members who voted for his firing resign before he would return.
Saturday/Sunday (Nov. 19): Talks between Altman and OpenAI stretch, stall
After agreeing "in principle" to facilitate the return of Altman, the OpenAI board missed multiple deadlines in the negotiation process. Although it appears a deal got close, the two sides could not agree on the terms of a potential Altman return.
Early Monday morning (Nov. 20): OpenAI announces Emmitt Shear will take over as interim CEO
The first interim CEO, Murati, became publicly supportive of Altman. To that end, Murati reportedly planned to re-hire Altman and Brockman at OpenAI under her power as interim CEO. Potentially to block such a move, the board shockingly hired Shear as a new interim CEO to replace Murati.
Early Monday morning: Microsoft announces plan to hire Altman, Brockman
Experts predicted that Microsoft could suffer a considerable stock hit when the markets opened Monday with OpenAI still in distress. To get ahead of that possibility, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced via a post on X that "Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team." The post was made at 2:53 a.m. EST, in a late-night move presumably designed to fend off a stock market catastrophe.
Monday morning: Sutskever has regrets
The tide once again started to turn in Altman's favor when Sutskever, who was initially part of Altman's ouster, announced his "regret" for his role. He pledged to do everything he can to reunite the company in a post on X.
Early Tuesday: Altman may still return
That brings us to now, where there is still a possibility of Altman returning. The current interim CEO, Shear, has said he will conduct a review to figure out what led to Altman's initial firing. Now that Shear is at the helm, employee support for OpenAI and its board is waning, with more than 500 employees threatening to leave the company alongside Altman and Brockman. The Verge has reported that a return for Altman could happen, but two board members would need to change their tune.
Altman has an interesting pitch, as well: he'll be working with OpenAI either way. Either as OpenAI CEO, or as the CEO of a new AI division within Microsoft, everyone will be working with one another. So, it seems Altman's pitch is that the board might as well just reinstate him.
Early Wednesday morning: Altman reinstated as CEO of OpenAI, board is overhauled
After what had been multiple days of negotiating, OpenAI publicly announced that it had reached an agreement in principle to re-hire Altman as CEO. Presumably, all the OpenAI employees who quit OpenAI in the wake of his firing will return as well. Despite the Microsoft deal technically falling through, both sides appear content with the result, and will continue to work together through their partnership.
OpenAI's board became overhauled, too. Altman and Brockman are no longer members of the company's board of directors, at least for now. The only member of the outgoing board to remain is Adam D'Angelo, which puts any rumors about him interfering with OpenAI's leadership for personal gain to rest. Bret Taylor becomes the chair and Larry Summers will also join, but expect this board to grow with new members eventually.
How did we get here?
It's unlikely we'll ever know the full story, but early reports indicate that the board may have felt Altman was putting the for-profit company over the mission of the nonprofit. This could explain their initial statement that said Altman lacked candid communication with the OpenAI board. From there, the board massively underestimated how loyal OpenAI's employees were to Altman. A company like OpenAI only succeeds with human talent, and losing all of its best minds was not an option. It seems as if the board initially tried to reaffirm Altman's firing, but eventually, caved in to restore order in the company.